CompuServe Thread

HP550C Driver

28 messages in this thread
#79682From: Jack Bennett IINov 30, 1992 7:37 PM
Does anyone know about a printer driver for the Hewlett Packard 550C ?? I really could use one, and I know one exists for pagestream, I don't use it. I need a preferences printer driver, like for the HPL4. Thanks. Jack
#79916From: Steve GoddardDec 2, 1992 3:23 PM
Hi Jack, A workmate has a 500C, I presume they're at least a bit similar. I'll have a chat with him on your behalf and get back. Steve the G. [BEDFORDSHIRE, UK]
#80053From: Jack Bennett IIDec 3, 1992 7:52 AM
Steve– I am using the 500C driver now. The difference is that the 500c is three color, i.e. RGB. The 550C is four color. It carries RGB and black. What is happening with the 500C driver is that black is not being used. It is only performing a three color process and it is capable of four. I need a dedicated 550C driver. Jack
#80179From: mark hinzDec 4, 1992 1:56 AM
Jack, DJ550C.lha is in the Soft-Logic library(lib 15) on AmigaVendor // .An Ameoba on AutoPilot 🙂 \X/
#80199From: Jack Bennett IIDec 4, 1992 7:02 AM
Mark– Oh thanks to you! Will check with the wonderful catalog command. Autopilot is wonderful, hmmm? Jack.
#80202From: Jack Bennett IIDec 4, 1992 7:13 AM
Mark– Just downloaded the Printer Driver. Does it work only for pagestream?? I need a preferences driver. Jack (Questioning)
#80377From: mark hinzDec 5, 1992 3:42 PM
Sorry, I just say it in the new uploads and assumed it was a preference driver. I have a HP500C and Im not really happy with the driver I have for it eigther. // .An Ameoba on AutoPilot 🙂 \X/
#80695From: Jonathan SchmidtDec 8, 1992 8:12 AM
Jack, I have a prefs driver for the 500C called SUPER DJ500C. I think it prints out much better than the ones online. It is only about 7500k. I will send it to you through Mail if you like… Jonathan Schmidt – Whappin' from CompuServe Land!
#80743From: Jack Bennett IIDec 8, 1992 8:56 PM
Jonathan, If you could, that would be great! I am willing to try anything to get better printing from the 550C. Jack
#80837From: Jonathan SchmidtDec 9, 1992 4:34 PM
I'll send it to ya ASAP. I don't know how much better it will be for the 550C but it might help anyway… look for it in your mail box.
#81278From: Greg MalcangiDec 13, 1992 9:54 AM
Dear Jonathan, I have a Deskjet 500C for which I use the DJ500C driver from the library here on CIS. If you have a more efficient driver please could you send me a copy. Thanks, Greg
#81286From: Jonathan SchmidtDec 13, 1992 11:34 AM
Uh-oh. Looks like a lot of people might be wanting this. I'll just have to Lharc it and upload it here. I'll do that today. I'm not sure if it is more efficient but you may have noticed that colors like dark blue, really dark red, and green all come out something like a black color. I think this driver changes the scale a bit. I think it more accurately represents the colors on the screen. As far as being faster or anything, I haven't noticed. I don't know if it employs compression or anything. If you need any more info, let me know! Jon
#81402From: Karl SparklinDec 14, 1992 8:29 PM
Jonathan, Yes, indeedy. Lots of folks are looking forward to a 550C driver, so that blacks will be black. Me included! Karl
#81967From: Dave ArreDec 20, 1992 12:23 AM
Karl: Does the HP550C require a special type of paper, or can you use say, ordinary or thick typewriter paper with it (in B&W mode)? I have been hesitiating for years on replacing my Daisy Wheel printer… I would like to have one that allow me to use the graphic capabilities of the Amy…. — Dave
#81991From: BILL LEACHDec 20, 1992 9:34 AM
Dave; I have the HP500C which is quite similar (indeed I believe that the only difference is that the 550 has both print head mounted at once so that it does not try to make "black" with the three colors — something that does not work). I find that the printer works well with very high quality laser paper. The best image quality is from paper designed specifically for the printer however. I doing only B&W work, Weyerhauser "First Choice" provides an image that actually is difficult to distinguish from a laser printer output. The easy way to tell is still to hit the paper with a drop of water! The ink will still run. Indeed, I have trouble believing that people get away with using a DeskJet for envelopes. -bill
#82010From: Steve AhlstromDec 20, 1992 1:39 PM
Bill, I just got a 550C. I neglected to also buy paper for it so I spent an hour or so stripping the edges and manually bursting about 1000 sheets of 20# laser perf tractor feed paper. So far (after printing about 500 pages) it works well, altho I do get 2 pages fed into the printer about every 20 pages. I do need to get good paper for the loading problem, but, the black output on this paper is _very_ good. I can't see any splattering or spreading of the ink — it looks like laser output. I tried doing some graphic dumps — if they are of the low color saturation variety (like you'd probably get if you did a dump of the workbench screen) the output was great. If it had lots of saturated colors, that particular paper made the output look muddy. The manual recommends the usage of Desk Jet clay coated paper for color graphics output. I never purchased the original Desk Jet because when I first saw it a few years back, I got a sample printout from it — 30 minutes or so later I took the printout outside with me — it was lightly sprinkling. The page got damp and the ink smeared all over the place. With the 550C, I notice that immediately after the page is printed the ink is still damp and will smear. However, it appears the once it is completely dry there is little to no smearing if it gets wet. As as test, I just dumped a bit of coffee onto a page I printed yesterday then used a rag to wipe (not blot) it off. The paper is now coffee stained but the text did not smear. -sja
#82013From: Dave ArreDec 20, 1992 2:39 PM
Bill: So, using the high quality typewriter paper that I've been using (well, cheap stuff too) would not work with a DeskJet. That's not too big of a problem, but it is something I need to consider. Thanks! — Dave
#82029From: Jim SakladDec 20, 1992 5:49 PM
Dave – The 550C does not REQUIRE any special paper, but you will notice a lot of variation in quality of text depending on characteristics of the paper, as indeed you would with ANY ink-jet printer. I have noticed that some copier paper seems to make for slightly fuzzy text, while other copier paper leaves it looking laser-printed. There are LOTS of specialty products for graphic printing. . . . . JimDoc, on AutoPilot
#82163From: Karl SparklinDec 21, 1992 10:09 PM
Dave, Since the 500C and 550C are inkjet, paper with high "rag" content, i.e. lots of cotton fiber, allows the wet ink to "travel" along the fibers, out from where it's supposed to stay put. This give a very fuzzy appearance and generally looks terrible. However, copier paper works just dandy, methinks, for regular text printing. You will also get OK color output on it, but it really screams when printed on special clay-based paper, like that made specifically for the printer by HP. I thought, Bah! I have some left over from my Okimate 20 thermal transfer. Yeah, it looked better than on the copier paper, but certainly not as good as on the HP paper (HP51630Y, "formerly PaintJet paper"). I don't think real thick bond paper would look very good, but I haven't tried it, since I don't have any. Karl
#82213From: Dave ArreDec 22, 1992 3:50 AM
Ah HAH! OK, that's fine. Now that I know what I need in the way of paper, I'll definitely look into the 550C. Thanks! — Dave
#81672From: Jim SakladDec 16, 1992 10:39 PM
Jonathan – > I have a prefs driver for the 500C called SUPER DJ500C. . . . . . > I will send it to you through Mail if you like… I am sure you are trying to be helpful, but IF (and ONLY IF) this is the Super_DJC driver marketed commercially by Creative Focus, then what you are offering to do is PIRACY and THEFT. If it is merely a driver offered as freely redistributable by its author, that happens to SOUND like the Creative Focus driver, then I apologize in advance. . . . . JimDoc, on AutoPilot
#81708From: Jonathan SchmidtDec 17, 1992 10:41 AM
I don't know who wrote it. I got it from my local dealer free of charge. It is therefore probably just sounding like the one you are speaking of. It is possible to name a driver whatever you like, you know! I sense some mean vibes comin' from your aura… man.
#81920From: Brian CowanDec 19, 1992 3:07 PM
Well, he _has_ reason…… You may want to read the file in something like NewZap (or Azap in the libs here) to see if there is a copyright notice in it. If it ain't C='s, you may want to get things straightened out with your dealer. Heck, he may have gotten the driver and not been informed of it's origins. After a driver has circulated a bit, people may forget just _where_ it came from. // Brian — Cruising on AutoPilot….. \X/
#81926From: Steve AhlstromDec 19, 1992 5:18 PM
If it _is_ C='s, it is a beta test driver and not for public release.
#81961From: Jim SakladDec 19, 1992 11:29 PM
Jonathan – Sorry about the vibes. Look in whatever docs came with the driver to see if "Creative Focus" or "Gerald Hull" are mentioned. Your innocence doesn't necessarily mean your dealer knows what he's about — it wouldn't be the first time one gave away something the author meant to be sold. . . . . JimDoc, on AutoPilot
#82000From: Jonathan SchmidtDec 20, 1992 11:13 AM
All I got was the driver. I don't know if there is a way to check it or not…
#82001From: Christopher TolmieDec 20, 1992 11:27 AM
Jonathan, You can use the TYPE command to check for the info. Type path:directory/filename OPT H This will type out the file in hexadecimal on one side of the screen and you'll see the ASCII characters on the right side. A [CTRL] [C] on keyboard will break the typing. A nice little CLI ONLY program I use and is in the libraries here is called Strings. In AmigaUser Lib:15 STRING.LZH/Bin Bytes: 6820, Count: 29, 22-May-91 Last:27-Nov-92 Title : STRINGS.LZH Keywords: ASCII FIND TEXT STRINGS This little CLI command will search through any file, binary or text and display all the ASCII text character strings in it. It's great for finding those revision numbers or text strings in programs. Its output can be redirected to a file for editing. The argument line is simple, first put in your C: directory, The command STRINGS C:STRINGS would then search itself. Usage : strings [-nxxx] [-o] [+o] filelist Chris
#80102From: Steve GoddardDec 3, 1992 3:14 PM
Hi Jack, I've spoken to my friend, and the driver he is happiest with purportedly comes from Commodore! The reason he likes it so much is that there were some instructions with it that explain how to set up the various preferences gadgets (like threshold, etc) to get the best effects. Reds now actually print out as red!. He tells me the driver is 9092 bytes long. This looks suspiciously the same length as the Commodore printer driver that is on my V2.1 AND V3.0 disks. I don't have any 2.04 disks easily available, so I presume there are no drivers at all for the HP deskjet on them? Steve the G. [BEDFORDSHIRE, UK]